Ecuador interrupts news show to air official rebuttals

New
York, February 2, 2011--Ecuadoran authorities interrupted a news program
critical of the Ecuadoran government on Monday to air an official rebuttal, a
practice that has become standard in the administration of President Rafael
Correa, according to research by the Committee to Protect Journalists. CPJ
calls on Ecuadoran authorities to stop this practice, which has a chilling
effect on public discourse.

Last
week during the political news program "Los Desayunos" on the privateTeleamazonas network, host María
Josefa Coronel had criticized the government for several such recent interruptions
during her show, according to the Quito-based press group Fundamedios. On
Monday, the government ordered Teleamazonas to interrupt the show for more than
two minutes and air a response to Coronel's comments. In the rebuttal, a video
showed three womencriticizing
Coronel for her dissenting views.

It
was the second government rebuttal on the same show in less than a week,
according to Fundamedios. On January 25, "Los Desayunos" was interrupted for a
five-minute official announcement. In a tape brought to the studio by a
government official, a male voiceover described Coronel as "an opposition
political actor," and said she was biased in her opinions. The official
rebuttal also included a video presentation of three Correa supporters--a
teacher, a housewife, and an "independent worker"--who disparaged Coronel, and
called her an opposition activist.

Ecuadoran journalists
and free press advocates told CPJ that the government was misusing the
broadcast law, which authorizes the use of the rebuttals, or cadenas.

"The government
can't just bully its way onto the air," said Carlos Lauría, CPJ's senior
program coordinator for the Americas. "We call on the Ecuadoran government to
stop this absurd practice, which hampers debate on issues of public interest,
not to mention news coverage."

Coronel's show was also
interrupted in October after the host made comments suggesting
the ruling party's congressmen were irrelevant, CPJ research shows. In 2010,
the government also forced Teleamazonas to air rebuttals on other programs,
including the morning news show "La Hora de Jorge Ortiz."

While other
channels have also been directed to air rebuttals, Teleamazonas has faced the
most intense censorship. It was forced off the air for three days in December
2009 after regulators found it had "incited public disorder" with a story about
the potential repercussions of natural gas exploration off southern Puná
Island.